Wedding dress style show reflects Alvina Sellers’ love of life
By Sarah Sly

Are you or anyone you know a bride-to-be, or simply a slave to fashion? Well, take a trip back in time by way of a Wedding Dress Style Show, which will be held at the Heartland Museum in Clarion on August 3, beginning at 2 p.m.

The show is more than a visual history lesson, it is also reflective of the late Alvina Sellers, the Hat Lady of Iowa, and the optimistic love of life she embodied. The style show will not only feature Sellers’ original 1937 wedding gown, which she wore for both her 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries, but also the gowns of others and Alvina’s Hat Parlor as well.

“This show is reflective of an annual celebration of Alvina’s life,” Sandra Sellers Hanson, the daughter of Alvina Sellers, said. “She had a ‘life is good’ outlook and what’s more fun than to celebrate one’s life through a show that is commemorative of just that?”

Plans for the show took root last summer upon Hanson’s annual return to Clarion and has continued to develop ever since.

“Part of the interest of this show is also a celebration of love and life, which is what a wedding embodies, whether it was just a year ago or 50 years ago,” said style show organizer Mary Tesdahl. “It displays a change in fashions, customs and also recalls pleasant memories for both the volunteers and show attendees as well.”

While the show nears the final stages of planning, Tesdahl commented that dresses are still coming in. The original goal was to have at least 10 to 15 dresses in the show and the selection ranges from very simple to the very modern and detailed.

“It will be very interesting to see if anything else comes up while the dresses are being brought in,” Tesdahl said, “The gowns aren’t necessarily restricted to white. Dresses were also black, blue, green and any color you can think of because they were made to be worn more than just once.”

“The actual white color scheme of the wedding gown is more of a modern development,” said Hanson. “It would be really neat to see if we could perhaps get a little color in there to break away from the traditional white gown. But even so, it’s still a great demonstration of the changing times.”

Although the show offers an array of the emerging fashion concepts through the years, the program will be reflective of the traditions of an era, dictated by social customs and economic demands as well.

“As the dresses vary from one another, it also calls to mind the availability of fabric to create such gowns,” both Hanson and Tesdahl explained, “The styles and fabrics range from a simple cotton and lace piece, to a ‘slipper satin’ worn by Alvina, to even the emergence of taffeta.”

As for the availability of gowns to construct such an event, the community has been and continues to be of great help.

“We asked for people in the community to share their dresses and many have been happy to oblige,” said Tesdahl. “It has been such a joy to work with the volunteers and a joy for them as well to have the opportunity to share a piece of such a special day.”

Besides offering a bit of an unusual program for the museum, the show is also an opportunity to reach out and offer an event that appeals to the younger demographic, breaking the common misconception that the museum is solely for adult audiences.

The program will consist of narration of each dress by Hanson, as well as any additional information given by the volunteer. Narration will also include information from Alvina’s Hats and Happiness program and each dress will be modeled by a member of the Clarion-Goldfield FCCLA.

“The models had such a fun time modeling Alvina’s clothes at the past fashion show, and they are ready to model clothes again.” Hanson said.

A table will also display the actual tissue paper bride and groom cake topper from Alvina’s wedding cake, as well as a few pages from Alvina’s scrapbook entitled “Our Wedded Life”.

The Museum will open its doors at 1:30 p.m. August 3, with the show beginning at 2 p.m. in the Opera House. Admission will be $5, which includes the cost of the program and museum access and refreshments will also be provided.